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Bo Woody Winter‘s work is inspired by jazz and jazz musicians. It’s only naturally that his paintings are often to see on exhibitions during jazz festivals like for example the North Sea Jazz Art 2011 during the North Sea Jazz Festival 2011. Hailing from Rotterdam Bo currently lives in Ibiza, Islas Baleares, Spain. He studied Visual Art – Painting at the Academy of Art in Rotterdam.

His works can be seen at Facebook and at this website. Also visit Bo’s own blog.

The Original Smooth Jazz Calendar was first created by Sherry Fisher in 2005 for family & friends including artists & industry people is filled with photos of your favorite Smooth Jazz Artists from concerts throughout the year. Over the last several years calendar has been expanded a larger size and now measures 17”x22”, allowing to feature more performers than ever.

As a graphic designer, photographer and traditional artist Russ Harris has painted in acrylic, chalk, pen & ink, pencils and water colors and is now combining these elements to create and capture visual reality that a photographic moment does not completely capture.

As a fine-artist, Russ Harris adds the moment and expression that visually speaks a thousand words through the use of creating lights, textures traditional artist detail in brush stokes and combining fine detail with pencils, pen & ink and chalk. His artworks have been commissioned and acquired by private clients and is currently offered for sale worldwide. Russ’ lives and creates in the seaside community of La Jolla, California.

At various points along the four-decade continuum of George Benson’s career, he has been heralded as a jazz guitarist of unparalleled chops, a vocalist with great emotional range and sophistication or a combination of both. However, he regards himself as an entertainer in the broadest sense of the word – a singer of songs, a spinner of tales. That’s the essence, Songs and Stories.

“It’s a very simple equation,” the National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master says of the longevity of his career and the ten Grammy Awards that have punctuated it along the way. “In the end, it’s about the songs and the stories. That’s what keeps the music fresh for me. That’s what keeps me coming back. If you come up with a great melody and put the right lyrics to it, I’m immediately excited.”

That excitement is evident in his new release, Songs and Stories, due August 25, 2009, on Concord Records / Monster Music. The album is a collection of tunes penned by some of the most prolific and enduring songwriters of the last half-century, including James Taylor, Smokey Robinson, Lamont Dozier, Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway and several others. Some were written specifically for this new recording, while others were hand-picked by Benson for their ability to convey simple but universal truths about the human experience.

Songs and Stories was produced by Concord exec VP of A&R John Burk and renowned bassist / composer Marcus Miller. Benson, Miller, keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, guitarist Jubu and drummer John Robinson make up the core unit for the project. They were joined by special guests: guitarists Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Wah Wah Watson and Norman Brown, vocalists Lalah Hathaway and Patti Austin, keyboardist David Paich, saxophonists Tom Scott and Gerald Albright along with several others. “Brother, with that team, you can do just about anything,” said Benson. “We recorded in the studio for three days straight, and everything we touched had something on it that made us all glad we were there. It was just the right mix of people and material. Once we realized that, the challenges disappeared. It just became an exercise in great joy. We were happy to jump on it, we knew we were going to get something special, and that’s what we got.” The combined talents of these writers and musicians make for a series of unforgettable tales, and Benson himself is the narrator who weaves it all together.

The sound of Greg Adams is one of the world’s best-known musical signatures. For nearly four decades, from the time he first arrived on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene of the early ‘70s, Greg has been a driving force to define artistry that transcends musical genres

Greg has earned both GRAMMY® and Emmy nominations and an International Broadcasting Award from The Hollywood Radio and Television Society. In sync with an ever evolving musical landscape and a life’s work that has included success as an arranger, composer, producer and performer, taking him on worldwide tours and contributing to some of the most important recordings in pop culture.

His 1995 solo debut Hidden Agenda stayed at #1 for five weeks. The ground breaking album received wide critical acclaim, fueled by the world sound of “Burma Road” and a smoldering remake of Sade’s ” Smooth Operator” established him as a major architect of the emerging smooth jazz sound and at the core of creating the genre of urban jazz. Followed up in 2002 with Midnight Morning and two more records in as many years with a string of top ten hits.

Adams is a founding member of Tower of Power. Legendary for the horn arrangements that created it’s resonance and signature sound making Tower of Power one of the most enduring musical entities today. Greg’s musical compositions made the TOP horn section a sought out entity all it’s own. Beginning early with his arrangement on Santana’s “ Everything Is Everything”, Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back” and Chaka Kahn’s “ Fool’s Paradise”. Greg has arranged, performed and recorded with countless artists as diverse as his career, including The Eurythmics, Rod Stewart, Heart, Lyle Lovett, Linda Ronstadt, Luther Vandross, Aaron Neville, Quincy Jones, Little Feat, Wilson Pickett, Huey Lewis and the News, Raphael Saadiq, The Brothers Johnson, Phish, B.B.King, Everclear, Chicago, Bonnie Raitt, Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles, Peter Frampton, Billy Preston, Terrence Trent Darby, Josh Groban, Madonna, The Rolling Stones and Celine Dion.

Ludner Confident is a Haitian artist and painter. Inspired by life experiences and emotions, social and spiritual concerns and the beauty of God’s creations, Confidant’s art is distinguished by surrealist sensitivity and a physician’s humanism. His paintings portray a visual poetry with external and inner beauty that appeals to the intellect as well as emotions. They seduce, entertain, delight and lead the viewer down a certain path.

Ludner created the cover Interlude for Allon Sams’ album A Place In Time (2001).

Born in 1961 in Kiev, Ukraine, Yuriy Shevchuk attended the Kiev Art School and later the prestigious Kiev Architectural Academy. Yuriy has adopted the practice of recording his own experiences in his artworks: his three passions, painting, jazz and historical cars have become the focus of his paintings. Since 1993 Shevchuk has been living in the city of Prague, which he depicts in many of his paintings and also where he exhibits his work widely. He has been described as an accomplished master, full of artistic and intellectual energy.

Bewitched with jazz music he skillfully and rapidly sketches the cool and charming figures of musicians in action, showing the positive mood of jazz and the stunning spiritual intensity of this bright magical world. His lively and spontaneous paintings expertly translate the atmosphere and verve of the music, using dripping, seeping paints and pastels.

Another part of his interests is retro cars. He does not paint cars as such, but tries to depict his emotional perception of retro style. So, the observer can feel spirit of the past on his works.

Shevchuk, an associate member of the Pastels Society of America, has participated in numerous exhibitions and his work is held in collections all over the world. The clarity, harmony, the refined palette of colour and line attract sophisticated art and music lovers worldwide. In the presence of Yuriy’s paintings one can almost hear the blues, feel the beguiling emotions and impassioned feelings of the musicians translated through the artist; such intoxication supports the belief that Yuriy Shevchuk is undoubtedly among the leading contemporary artists exhibiting widely in the Czech Republic today.